Tafseer of Joseph · Yusuf · 12:102
That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal, [O Muhammad], to you. And you were not with them when they put together their plan while they conspired.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: ذَلِكَ مِنْ أَنْبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهِ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا كُنْتَ لَدَيْهِمْ إِذْ أَجْمَعُوا أَمْرَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَمْكُرُونَ (102)
Abū Jaʿfar said: the Exalted says: this report which We have related to you concerning the history of Yūsuf and his father Yaʿqūb and his brothers, and all the rest in this sūra من أنباء الغيب — He says: belongs to the reports of the unseen (al-ghayb) which you did not witness nor see with your own eyes; but We reveal it to you and make it known to you in order to strengthen your heart thereby and to give you courage, so that you may exercise patience toward what has reached you of harm from your people for the sake of Allah, and that you may know that those before you among the messengers of Allah — when they exercised patience toward what befell them therein, accepted forgiveness, enjoined the good, and turned away from the ignorant — attained the victory, were supported with aid, were established in the land, and got the better of those whom they pursued among their enemies and the enemies of the religion of Allah. Allah, blessed and exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: take them, O Muḥammad, as an example, and follow in their footsteps. وما كنت لديهم إذ أجمعوا أمرهم وهم يمكرون — He says: you were not present with the brothers of Yūsuf when they were of one mind and in agreement, and their resolve was firmly determined, that they would cast Yūsuf into the depth of the well. And that was their plotting concerning which Allah ﷻ said: وهم يمكرون , as:
19951 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yūnus related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: وما كنت لديهم — by it he means Muḥammad ﷺ — He says: you were not with them while they cast him into the depth of the well; وهم يمكرون — that is to say: against Yūsuf.
19952 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: وما كنت لديهم إذ أجمعوا أمرهم وهم يمكرون — the Āya — he said: those are the sons of Yaʿqūb.